Temple priests from north coastal Andhra districts staged a dharna in front of the Endowment's Department at Turner's Choultry here on Tuesday demanding payment of salary as per the order issued by the Dharmika Parishad and solution to many other problems of priests.
The priests from Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, under the banner of Visakhapatnam District Archaka Sangham representing the priests from the three districts, criticised the officials for not implementing the orders issued by the Commissioner (endowments) and also alleged that corruption was rampant in the department and ACB should take this into notice. Priests in the private temples must be paid according to the Labour Department rules and given all other benefits according to the law, the sangham leaders said.
Sangham president Rejeti Adiseshu, general secretary Ayaluri Srinivasa Deekshitulu, secretary Kothalanka Muralikrishna and others addressed the dharna participants.
Agitation would be launched in phases if the problems of priests were not solved by September 20. Arjita Sevas would not be performed at the temples as part of the agitation, the priests warned. Though the priests of temples with an annual income of less than Rs. 5 lakh were struggling hard to increase the income of temples, they were not getting even the minimum wages while a manager or a clerk of the same temples were receiving salaries of more than Rs. 20,000 as per the PRCs of 2005 and 2010.
The sangham also pointed out that the GOs and circulars issued following the Supreme Court ruling that the priest must be paid first in the endowment system were not being implemented. On the other hand, when the Dharmika Parishad said the priests must be paid minimum wages, the officials expressed their inability to pay the wages and got a circular released to pay salary as per their wish. A large number of managers and employees who lacked the minimum qualification or joined the department when there was a ban on recruitment were receiving PRC 2005 salaries, it pointed out.
